The training of persons to safely use firearms in confrontational situations requires actual firing time on a firing range, as well as exercises in which unloaded firearms are used to demonstrate various defensive actions. Range officers who conduct such training must carefully scrutinize each trainee's performance, so as to make certain the trainee learns the safe handling of loaded firearms. These exercises typically involve live firing of the firearm under supervision.
In other exercises carried out by the trainee, the firearm is operated in an unloaded condition, and dry fired, or fired without ammunition. A source of accidents results from accidental discharges, which occur when training switches from a live fire session to a dry fire practice session. The problem of making certain that all firearms are properly unloaded during dry fire practice is aggravated by the fact that an empty firearm with a closed chamber is usually indistinguishable from one in which a cartridge has been loaded and is ready to fire. For this reason, accidental discharges occur at an unfortunately alarming rate.
Various devices have been proposed for disabling the firearm for safe practice and carriage. These devices typically fit within the firing chamber, and obstruct any introduction of a round into the firing chamber. These conventional devices, however, are configured in such a manner as to be difficult to insert and/or remove from the firearm without risking damage to the firearm during the insertion and/or removal. Similarly, these conventional devices are configured such that their continual use during dry fire practice results in damage to components of the firearm (e.g., ejector, firing pin, etc.).
Associated with the problem of making sure that a live round is not introduced into the chamber during dry fire practice is a problem of determining from casual observation whether or not firearm has been disabled. Since the slide is closed and/or the bolt is in battery position during dry fire practice, external viewing of the disabled firearm by an observer does not disclose whether or not the firearm is in fact disabled.
Consequently, there is a need for a firearm safety device that clearly indicates to the user and/or observers with certainty that the chamber of the firearm is free and clear of a live round so that the user and/or observers can be confident that the firearm is safe and cannot be fired. There is also a need for a firearm safety device that enables the firearm to be dry fired, holstered and cycled in a normal manner to closely simulate actual firearm use for employment in training exercises while not damaging components of the firearm.